


Perfect Illusion

by BunniesofDoom



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Inspired By Tumblr, Speculation, Spoilers: Volume 8 (RWBY), Volume 8 (RWBY), emerald sustrai redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:14:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29864847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunniesofDoom/pseuds/BunniesofDoom
Summary: Time is running out.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose, Ruby Rose & Emerald Sustrai
Comments: 1
Kudos: 55





	Perfect Illusion

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers up to episode 10 of volume 8 ahead. Enjoy!

When Penny returns to awareness, she's lying on a couch near the bottom of the stairs. She sits up and takes a second to take stock of her situation. None of her systems are damaged, which is good. Someone has cleaned the stains from her dress and skin. That was nice of them. Whatever was controlling her before seems to have stopped for now. Also a good sign.

But Penny knows that it's not good for good. She can still feel that sense of wrongness, of something that doesn't belong, something foreign, deep down. It's only a matter of time before it rises up again to strike, and she loses control again. And when that happens, Penny doesn't know what she'll do. She might end up hurting Ruby, or one of her other friends.

And Penny can't bear the thought of hurting the people she loves.

But she's running out of time. She needs to find a way to stop herself from harming the others, to buy herself some time until she can free herself from whatever is controlling her for good. So, even as she feels the wrongness inside her surging again, Penny closes her eyes and summons the powers of the Winter Maiden, more than she ever has before. When she opens them again, there are green flames surrounding her eyes, and the air around her is swirling with frost.

The temperature quickly plummets, and if it weren't for her synthetic body, Penny would be suffering from the effects of the intense cold. Instead, she continues to summon ice and snow until her vision is completely filled with white—and she loses control of her body again.

She just hopes that she's done enough.

In the aftermath of Ironwood's announcement, they're all shocked into silence. Despite their conflicts with the general, none of them had ever thought that he'd go this far.

"He's lost his mind," Yang mutters under her breath. "Holding his own people hostage like that." Blake places a hand on her shoulder, still rubbing at one of her cat ears with the other hand.

Once again, they lapse into horrified quiet, trying to adjust to this new reality they've been thrust into. "So, what should we do?" Weiss asks timidly, blue eyes wide with horror.

Ruby shakes her head, as if trying to clear her thoughts. "I—I don't know," she admits, turning to head into the small hallway next to the stairs. "But I want to check on Penny real quick, and then we can try to come up with a plan—oh!" she cuts herself off, exclaiming in surprise.

The couch where they had moved Penny is now encased in a large block of ice—with Penny inside. "Penny!" Ruby rushes to her side, pressing a hand up to the ice covering her face. "What happened?"

"It looks like she tried to use her powers, but something went wrong," Blake suggests.

"She was acting strangely earlier." Ruby bites her lip, turning to face Weiss. "Is there any way you could use one of your glyphs to get her out of there?"

"I could," Weiss begins slowly, frowning. "But even using my semblance, it would take a while. And you heard Ironwood. We only have an hour. The people of Mantle are in danger right now."

"And I don't think Penny is really in any shape to go along with whatever plan we manage to come up with," Blake points out.

"But what should we do?" Jaune asks anxiously. "Ironwood wants the Winter Maiden, and if we don't have Penny, we don't have any way to get him to call off his attack on Mantle."

"Not necessarily," Emerald says quietly.

Eyes narrowed in suspicion, Ruby turns to face her. "And what do you mean by that?" she asks, folding her arms across her chest.

Emerald remains unfazed by Ruby's obvious distrust. "I mean that Ironwood wants the Winter Maiden. So, if we were to convince him that someone else had inherited the Maiden's powers, we could prevent him from doing anything to Mantle."

They pause to consider her words. "You're awfully helpful all of a sudden," Ruby says finally.

"Yeah, well." Emerald glances away. "I saw those people huddled in the tunnels under the city," she admits quietly. "They're there because of things I helped with. And I've decided that I really don't want to see anyone else get hurt if there's a way I could prevent it."

"Okay then," Oscar replies. "We'll hear you out. What's your plan?"

Emerald takes a deep breath. "I can use my semblance to make it seem like one of us has inherited the power of the Winter Maiden. We can bring them to Ironwood and convince him to call off the bomb by making it seem like you cooperated with his demands." She glances at Ruby. "You guys just need to decide on who I disguise."

Weiss and Blake exchange a glance. "Ruby," they say in unison. "She's the one most likely to have been in Penny's final thoughts," Blake adds.

"Okay then." Emerald turns to Ruby. "Let's get started. Time is running out."

Ruby nods stiffly. She still doesn't necessarily trust Emerald, but the green-haired girl sees sincere, and her plan has merit. "Let's do this."

"I am so glad to see that you children have decided to come to your senses and surrender yourselves." Ironwood's smug certainty makes Ruby want to punch him in the face. "But I'm afraid I don't see Penny among you. And here I thought you claimed to care about the people of Mantle."

Ruby grits her teeth, forcing her expression to remain neutral. "That's why we're here, sir." She feels the tension radiating from Yang, Ren, Emerald, and Blake beside her. Jaune, Oscar, and Weiss had stayed back at the manor. "Unfortunately, Penny Polendina is dead."

Her voice quavers slightly on the words. Knowing that what she's saying is false doesn't make it any easier to think about. Fortunately, her obvious emotion seems to be enough to convince Ironwood.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Yeah, right. "I'm assuming that you four are here then to tell me who the new Winter Maiden is, then?"

His callousness, his cold dismissal, makes Ruby want to scream. She nods instead. "I have inherited the power of the Winter Maiden." She shuts her eyes, hoping that Emerald takes her cue.

Everything is riding on this moment.

When she opens her eyes again, Ironwood looks satisfied. Behind him, the Ace Ops look stunned. Winter looks especially shocked. Harriet smirks, making Ruby's blood boil.

It worked, she reminds herself, taking a deep breath. That's what matters right now protecting the people of Mantle. She can lose herself in rage later.

"Very well then," Ironwood smirks. "I will deactivate the bomb." He pulls a remote out of his pocket and presses a button. "So long as the new Winter Maiden accompanies me down to the vault, it will remain that way." Ruby nods. "Alone."

That's not what they had planned for. Ruby's veins fill with ice, but she quickly nods again. If she backs out now, the people of Mantle are doomed. "Of course," she says, hoping she sounds more confident than she feels. "You guys stay here." She lets her eyes linger on Emerald for a long moment, hoping that the other girl gets the memo.

When she feels invisible fingers brush her wrist as she and Ironwood exit the room, she allows herself to relax a tiny bit. She's still got a way out of this. It's just going to take some quick thinking.

They make the trip down to the vault in silence. The design is fitting for the kingdom of Atlas, all sleek lines and a sharp, futuristic design. Ruby takes in her surroundings, trying to ignore the gaps in the floor leading to dizzying drops far below.

"Enough stalling," Ironwood orders. "Open the vault."

Once again, Ruby closes her eyes. Hoping that Emerald is still there, she reaches out a hand towards the vault. When she opens her eyes, Ironwood seems pleased, staring at the vault door. To her eyes, it still looks closed, but Emerald must have done something, because Ironwood takes a step forward. "Very good. Now, I will retrieve the staff."

Ruby takes a careful breath, trying not to panic. Any second now, Ironwood's going to realize that this is a trick. Maybe she can grab the remote from him before he can—

And then suddenly, Emerald reappears just in time to catch Ironwood in the head with her weapons. He collapses to the ground, unconscious, and she rubs her temples before crouching down and grabbing the remote from his pocket, waving it in the air teasingly.

When Ruby just stares at her in shock, she sighs again. "What can I say, I owed you one. Your plans seriously suck, by the way. Now, do you want to stand around here all day and stare at me, or do you want to get out of here?"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment and leave kudos if you liked it.
> 
> Yes I am aware that this is a terrible, jumbled mess but I just wanted to get these ideas out of my head before the new episode drops tomorrow. Got the idea for Emerald disguising Ruby as the Winter Maiden from luminigh on tumblr and the idea of Penny freezing herself to protect her friends from bionic-jedi on tumblr.
> 
> Just a reminder that I do take requests for fics, so if there's an idea that you'd like to see me write, feel free to message me and if I like it, I might end up writing something for it. Also, if you like one of my ideas and want to write your own fic for it, feel free! I'm not possessive with my ideas, and most of my writing is self-indulgent anyway, so all that I ask is that you let me know so I can read it.


End file.
